Twelve Things I'll Remember About 2012

1. Spending an entire year in a home instead of in the inn for the first time since 2002.
2. All the wildlife sightings and hearings on our property: red-bellied snake, turtles (including the teeny tiny one I found while weeding), coyotes, deer, a white-coated weasel (short or long tail hotly contested), owls, salamanders, too many frogs to count (the noise from the spring peepers literally hurts your ear drums if you are near the pond), a variety of birds, and approximately 1001 squirrels and chipmunks.
3. A wonderful trip to Florence with friends and two days in Holland with just Michael on the way back. The train from Lucca to Florence Piazza del Serchio. (Don't know where that is? Look it up. I'll wait. Hint: Not near Florence.)
4. Finally getting comfortable enough to swim in the deep end. And to go snorkeling in Hawaii.
5. A great trip to Hawaii with Michael's family--and getting to see my family on the way back home.
6. NB and IM graduating from elementary school and starting middle school.
7. EM and Michael fighting a brush fire in Utah while supposedly setting up for a wedding reception.
8. Having the most fun six months of my career and also the worst six weeks, while documenting a product that changed names four times during the year, only to end up with name we started with.
9. Learning to enjoy the effects of exercise more than I hate the discomforts.
10. EM scoring a 5 on the AP Calculus test as a sophomore . . . and having to call in to get his results because he combined our inn mailing address and our house mailing address into one undeliverable mess.
11. Numerous discussions on language rules with LW as he learns to read.
12. Singing with IM in the choir for the Christmas Eve service.